What is Pharmacology?
Pharmacology is the science concerned with the study of drugs and how they work. To pharmacologists, a drug is any chemical agent which produces a recognisable biological effect.
Pharmacology is also concerned with the search for new drugs and how they can best be used in the treatment of diseases in both humans and animals. Some more information about pharmacology is given by the British Pharmacological Society.
Pharmacology is different from Pharmacy (a pharmacist is someone qualified to prepare and dispense drugs). Pharmacy is not taught at the University of Cambridge, but details of Pharmacy courses are available from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
At Cambridge, Pharmacology is studied in the second and third years as part of the Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) Part II course and Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Part II course.
The Pharmacology Department runs the Mechanisms of Drug Action course and participates in the Neurobiology with Human Behaviour Course. These are studied by all BBS students in the second year.
Admission to undergraduate courses is by application to a College. In addition to the information to be found on this page, you can find information about how you can apply to Cambridge (including details about courses, Colleges and admissions interviews) here.